MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/3 Manager search

Cubs GM Jim Hendry rejoined the team Friday after spending a few days with the Triple-A Iowa team and its manager, Ryne Sandberg. A candidate for the Cubs job, Sandberg was named the Pacific Coast League manager of the year on Friday. His Iowa team begins a four-game series Friday against Memphis and needs to win three of four to advance to the playoffs.

Hendry did talk with Sandberg about the Cubs job but says it wasn’t a formal interview.

“He needs to finish the season,” Hendry said. “We’re not in any rush to complete interview processes or things like that. It was more normal dialogue and get together after the game. It was no different than if I was going into Iowa in the middle of May.”

There were reports that Fredi Gonzalez was a front runner for the Cubs job.

“I told everybody I would not do that and I’m not going to get into comments about everybody,” Hendry said. “The process will take the same time frame I said it would. You’ll read different speculation every day about who the front runner is and who’s eliminated and who’s not. Trust me, it’s all basically conjecture because I haven’t talked to anybody about any of it.

“There is no leading candidate, there hasn’t been and there won’t be until I take the final evaluations to [owner] Tom Ricketts and his family,” Hendry said. “There’s no sense talking about it really.”

Hendry has watched the team under Mike Quade, who is 6-3 since taking over Aug. 23 for Lou Piniella. Quade also is a candidate for the Cubs job.

“I think Mike’s done a real nice job of getting everybody involved and giving people chances and putting people in spots that we’d like them to be in so we can see who we’ve got at the end of the year,” Hendry said. “It’s not an easy job when you take over with five or six weeks left and I think he’s off to a real good start and handled himself at the highest level on and off the field.”

— Carrie Muskat

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3 Comments

I remain completely confused as to why Jim Hendry is receiving ZERO blame for the disaster this team has turned into. WHY? Didn’t he bring in EVERY single player, pay them a total of the 3rd highest payroll in all of MLB and tops in the NL? Didn’t HE pick Lou over several other candidates including Joe Girardi 4 years ago? Isn’t he the guy that made some of the worst off-season moves ever in consecutive years bringing in Soriano (not a bad player, but WAY over paid; possibly the WORST contract in the history of sports), Fukudome (151 RBIs in 3 years!), and Milton Bradley (conned by one of the games biggest knuckleheads – signed Milton to a 3-year contract ahead of Bobby Abreu, Adam Dunn, and Raul Ibanez)? Where was the bullpen help? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I wouldn’t let Jim Hendry handle my 8-year old’s savings account let alone be in charge of $145 million payroll on an MLB team I just purchased for over $800 million. And while we’re on the subject…WHY does Crane Kenney still have a job with the organization? This guy is a lawyer – NOT a baseball guy!

Spot on 21daman, and now that comments have been recorded by both Hendry and Ricketts regarding a “marqee name” not being needed for the Cubs…aren’t they painting themselves in yet another corner by making such limiting statements? No marqee name??? That lets out Sandberg, Brenly AND Girardi unless of course they think Gonzalez, Quade and Listach are “marquee names”. What a joke this love relationship with Hendry is turning out to be. Better GM’s have been fired for less. And now that Ryno has been named PCL manage of the year it’s going to be even more of a crime and embarrassment if they don’t hire him. W, it’s a way of life…right, “W” as in Way to go….Hendry. Ryno won’t get credit for managing well in the minors and acheiving much success while Quade gets high marks from Hendry? Isn’t this Quade’s “rookie” shot at the majors? Who knows which end Hendry’s talking from any more. Absolutley no credability left. So Jim, if you do go with Quade next year it’s gonna be o.k. because he’ll have a WHOLE MONTH OF MAJOR LEAGUE EXPEREIENCE vs. Ryno’s no major league experience. Hendry hasn’t had a well laid out plan in years. I’m still laughing at the Bradley joke. That alone is worth a pink slip.

People, People, People… We don’t need a “whinning-pointing fingers” at who’s to blame or a who’s “guilty as charged” kind of thing. We need solutions! So far Mike Quade is looking good at this point, although short of time it is… Would we like to see Ryno in there as a manager? Sure we do, all Cub fans love Ryne Sandberg… The truth is that its a process and we must let that process take place. Yes, let things fall into place. Standby and observe and enjoy the ride! Quade and Ryno are both possible candidates, but only one can be there at the end. There is still time to observe how things are going… So follow through and relax… Enjoy Baseball !!!

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